We had some friends over for the evening earlier in June and drank some stuff that I did not note. However my wonderful friend, Charles Quintero, a real expert in Sauternes brought a couple of 750's to try.

Chateau de Rayne Vigneau 2001 $50 (more or less) The nose came across with some wonderful tangerine notes and cream. The taste was honey on the front with apricot and a little of the tangerine and some strawberry which I've never had on a sauternes. The finish was a luxuriant honey comb waxiness.

The second Sauternes was from the same vintage:

Chateau Bastor Lamontagne 2001 $45 (more or less) This was less fruitier than the first wine with a nose of cherry and apricot with a whiff of honey. It also had a nice honey texture to it and had a slightly mead-like taste. I like mead so this is a positive discriptor to me. There was not much fruit in the wine itself as it had the classic honeycomb finish.

Both the wines were lovely. I can see why '01 got all the rave reviews. We did not rate the wines, we just enjoyed them. There were only three people present when the sauternes were being consumed and the wines were 3/4s finished by the end of the evening. All in all a fine night!

Great notes, James. I've had a handful of '01's across the board in cost and, while I'm far from a sauternes expert, I've really enjoyed the balance in all of them. Mead is a positive descriptor for me too.
The '03's I've had are like super-charged sauternes. Yummy in their own right but I like the overall balance of what I've seen in the '01's

I like the '01s compared to the '03s I've had. I think the '02s are a real steal too. It's one of theose sleeper vintages that is really approachable now. I had an '02 Ruissec at the DC WineExpo a week ago (I was in on a trade pass). It was by far the best wine of the day. The '03s may take longer to come around. Then again, they just may never be a true Sauternes.